1 gallon milk jugs for water storage?

[talshu]

Non-chlorinated water must be treated with 8 drops chlorine bleach for safety purposes. Good link: Water Storage Guidelines

 

[smokingman]

2 liter bottles are a much better option.They last nearly forever and do not leak.We have 30 or so 2 liter bottles stacked on their side between 2x8s.The "stack" is around 4 foot high at this point.0 leaks from the lids and no 2 liter has ever broken or leaked.

We rotate the water fairly often(they are used to water house plants) and so far the bottles and lids have held up very well.Some are 2+ years old at this point.

 

[a.bentonab]

I was looking to put some supplies in my car. I wanted to have some water so I was thinking about different containers. In a car, you have to deal with temperature extremes on both ends of the spectrum; cold in winter and hot in summer. Both of these expand the size of the h2o so I figured milk jugs or even water factory sealed in milk-type jugs wouldn't cut it. I opted for 2 liter bottles as they are built to withstand the pressure of carbonation. I will say that this worked extremely well. It probably stayed in my trunk for about a year before I used it to put out a campfire (had a fire extinguisher right next to it, but a gallon of water is MUCH cheaper than a recharge!)

Is there any water that is factory sealed in 2 liter soda-type bottles? What about carbonated water and is that better/worse for any reason?

 

[Wild Deuce]

First of all, I don't believe you can reliably clean a milk jug of all milk residue. Even a little bit can open you up to serious bacterial contamination. Even if you can , why take the risk. Bottled water is cheap and you can safely reuse the bottles. The last thing you need in a water-short situation is a is case of screaming diarea !!!

You are risking alot of bacterial build up from the milk any long term storage with milk jugs is bad news. Get a Berkey filter if you can afford it if not I have read alot of people talking about pool hypoclorite on survival websites for emergency water. If your wanting to go for the real short term as far as days prepared to go without water for I would definitely drop the dollar a jug it takes to get sterile jugs at the store. At a minimum one gallon of water for DRINKING a day and thats not counting your washing etc.

+1

All the books in my survival library support these opinions. The biggest threat from using a milk container is bacteria. Too many nooks and crannies in the lid/opening to clean reliably unless you are willing to put in the time/money/effort greater than simply buying a new, clean container.

 

[mrjarrell]

We use Ice Mountain 1 gal water jugs, (available filled in boxes of 6 at Sam's Club). The nice thing is that they last longer than a milk jug, being designed to hold water for long periods of time, and come in a reinforced box that allows for stacking. After we've used the initial bottled water in them we refill them at a local spring and stack them up. I've only changed out the jugs once in the last 8 years. The plastic is quite good on these and I've never had a leaker.

 

[sweddle]

We have done this for years to supplement our well in the event of a power failure. We are constantly running fresh water through them because they are stored in the garage, where we also feed and water the dogs. Its convenient to fill the dogs water bowls with them instead of carrying their bowls into the house. Once we have emptied a few, we simply refill them as a cycle. When we were threatened with the ice storm this winter, I also filled a "drain-less" Igloo cooler with hot water so we would have warm water to use for hand washing, dish washing etc. I had used a standard cooler before, but the hot water made the drain plug pretty flexible and it leaked.

 

[Jenel]

I was told once by a friend of mine who was a cattle farmer (milk and meat), that those milk jugs are not good to put anything but milk in. He told me that they hold bacteria in and tend to grow bacteria faster than other options (2 liters or whatever). I don't know how true it is but he said that even with a 10% bleach solution odor causing bacterial from milk can still live and cause issues. I've never tried it. Personally I don't need to burn myself to know that fire hurts. For emergency use I use either five gallon water jugs, or 3 liter Ice Mountain jugs. My aunt who is an RN and Morman told me never use any container to store water that had some other substance in it. I'm sure that it is ok for a little while, but I'm talking a year or more.

 

[Lancem]

Just had to ask, when you rotate them, do you rotate them to the right or the left??

 

[lon]

I too have had bad results with milk jugs. I have had excellent results since switching over to the heavier plastic juice/tea jugs.

Those 1 gal tea jugs are tough, and have a good carry handle.

 

[warhawk77]

I had never thought about doing that. I think I am going to start saving my 2 liter bottles and storing up some water.

I know my dad would freeze water in soda bottles and put them in coolers. It keeps the ice from melting and filling the cooler up with water.

 

[Viking Queen]

For Wash water, water for things other than drinking, I save the laundry detergent bottles. They are very sturdy and have a strong handle, good pour spout and a secure lid. I use detergent that is fragrance free so there is no lingering odor in the bottles. I wash the bottles and lids very thoroughly and put a tablespoon of bleach in a full bottle and rinse that out, then store a bunch of these filled with water in the garage and some in the basement. I rotate use of these by using the stored water to water house plants and outdoor plants, then refill the bottles. If SHTF we will need water for washing and for other uses so that's what I store in the detergent bottles. Drinking water in other containers.

Just one of my ideas.

Viking Queen

 

[warhawk77]

For Wash water, water for things other than drinking, I save the laundry detergent bottles.

Viking Queen

That is a very good idea.

 

[japartridge]

We have 12 that we rotate very often. Over the course of about 10 years, we've had 3 or 4 "leakers". Sometimes those were due to other factors...

You are not supposed to shoot the ones you're keeping for prepping!!!

 

[nmcampbe]

Gallon milk jugs are very thin, they design them this way so they degrade more rapidly. Use 2-liter coke bottles rinsed out with bleach/water solution, write the date you filled them and rotate them out once a year. I add 9 drops of bleach to mine and store them in a dark cool room.